Monday, November 15, 2010

One day I looked out my back door window and saw that there were no leaves left on my pentas. I went out to investigate and found no less than 8 hornworms (6 green and 2 brown) trying to live off the four plants in my pot. These were pretty impressively big caterpillars, so we saved them and did a little research. We determined that they would become tersa sphinx moths. So we made a little habitat for two of them and released the rest. I just didn't have enough penta plants left to feed more than two! For about a week they lived in my glass cookie jar. (But I promise I sanitized it really well afterward, so it's safe to eat cookies next time you come to my house!) Then the caterpillars went into their chrysalises for a couple weeks. One morning, we woke up to this:

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

This year costumes were MUCH easier. And good thing too. I don't think I could have pulled another sewing marathon this year. (Apparently even though I was able to finish the costumes on time this year, it was too much to have me blog about them in anything close to a timely manner!)

Claire wanted to be a penguin again this year, so she made it easy on me! Last year's costume still fit, so I took the opportunity to add the elastic here and there and stitch a few things closed that I didn't get around to last year.

Scott wanted to be a "scary mummy." I wasn't so sure about the scary part, but I was game for the mummy part. (I don't think a four year old with buck teeth and enormously long dark lashes can be scary even if he tries anyway... Unless you count being scary-skinny because he refuses to eat anything. And really really pale because he is my son.)

If you're wondering about construction on this mummy one, here's the deal (if not, feel free to skip ahead):I used a long-sleeved white t-shirt and I sewed a pair of basic (pajama pattern in fact) elastic waist white pants with leftover fabric. Then I bought several yards of unbleached muslin. I tore the muslin into approximately 3 inch wide strips the length of the muslin. Then I quickly hand stitched along the top of the strips to attach them onto the shirt and pants. I just wound it around and around, making sure to overlap. Don't think quality hand-stitching here. I'm crazy, but not THAT crazy. Just rough and very long running stitch. Every time I stopped and started a strip I left a little hanging down to give it that disheveled look. In order for the shirt to fit over his head, I stretched it and pinned it around the neck and then made sure to sew it very loosely there. I started there and then did the chest. On the chest I didn't wrap around but rather zig-zagged back and forth until I got below the armpits. Then I made sure the wrapping a the shoulders covered the folded edges. Other than that, I worked up from the hands, up from the bottom of the shirt and up from the feet. I sewed a few of the longer ends into random places to complete the "not too perfect look." Because looking messy should always be premeditated, right?

Kate wore a little kimono that used to belong to M's mom when she was a little girl. Let's see if I get this story right. I believe it goes that M's mom was born in Japan while her father was there with the military. She was wearing this little kimono when she returned to the states.

The only thing I did was make a fake little obi (belt) using some leftover scraps of fabric, velcro, and cardboard from a graham cracker box.

I don't have photos, but M and I wore some recycled costumes from a few years ago. We were "The Track Team" or "Run-Over Runners." Basically we just wore running clothes with a t-shirt that had a large black tire track up the front. We continued the tire track onto our faces with black face paint.

Our main Halloween celebration this year was a party at church. Here are a few highlights:

Claire, I don't think that's the conventional way for penguins to catch fish...

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

This year in honor of the kids' (and our) latest screen time obsession, we did Phineas and Ferb themed pumpkins:

The Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry pumpkin didn't turn out quite as well, I think. The image was a bit wide for a round surface, and we were a touch too ambitious on the detail. But all in all, I thought the pumpkins this year were a success!

Carving pumpkins is the only part of Halloween M really gets into. For me it's all about costumes, but I'm always up for a little time pretending to be artsy. This is one area where I feel like we stray from our usual, non-traditional jaded selves and REALLY get into the holiday.